The Black Cauldron

The Black Cauldron Review

By Christopher Null

Disney didn't make a PG-rated animated film until 1985; this is it, The Black Cauldron, Disney's 25th animated feature. The film successfully skews toward older kids, but it's not too much for the little ones. The story is one of the better ones from this era (predating Disney's 1990s renaissance), involving a boy who does battle with the Horned King as he attempts to destroy, well, a magic pot that would give the King the power to raise an army of the dead. That a kidnapped pig plays a central plot point is irrelevant, this is simple (and simply-animated) Disney fun. John Hurt's gravelly voice of the Horned King steals the show.